The project status report is the project manager’s billboard to the world as far as how things are going on his project. It starts clean at the beginning of the project, full of optimism predicting the future of the engagement and indicating what’s coming up in the coming days and weeks. Everything is reset to zero, everything is on time, everything is on budget, and there are likely very few if any issues to be attacked. All is quiet…all is good. So, you’re ready to move forward with your brand new project. What do you include on the status report? Is it your call? Is it up to the customer? Is it up to policies and procedures in your project management office? Does your executive management mandate what you can and cannot include? I’m guessing it’s likely a combo of one or more of these.